Check, Check and Check

Whoa, TONS has happened since my last post so this will be a chunky one but I know you like those chunky blog posts, don’t you? :)

In the end of September and beginning of October, Chris and I participated in events we’d been planning which culminated into a secondary project palooza! We worked together to lead an English club with a group of kids who actively seek out opportunities to practice speaking outside of the classroom. It was initially fun just to do basic English activities, but we really upped the ante when we started to formulate ideas for our theater performance. Each year, every province in Mozambique participates in the English Theater Competition, a secondary project led by Peace Corps Volunteers. Students get the opportunity to write, direct and star in a 10 minute theater presentation and compete against other groups in the province. This year’s theme was “we are all equal”, so we worked with our students on a play about discrimination on a chapa (public transport). The first scene, titled “Reality”, showed different minorities being discriminated against while the second scene, “How the World Should Be”, showed those same minorities being treated equally. Our students worked hard to practice their lines and choose the right costumes and in the end, they performed well! We didn’t end up winning but it was still an awesome experience and I definitely plan to come in even stronger next year. But I have to say, the competition was tough! Mozambicans LOVE theater. They really get into acting and take it seriously. I’m not exactly sure why, but probably for the fact that many still don’t own a TV so it’s an easily accessible form of entertainment. Anyway, we still had a great time working with our group to prepare for the competition. One of the best activities was a dinner at our house the week before. The kids taught us how to make beijias, which are basically a chicken nugget made of beans. They are tasty street food here in Moz and we have been wondering how to make them at home. We added to the dinner with a classic American salad including Italian dressing from the US and banana chocolate chip muffins. The dinner served as a celebration for their hard work and a cultural exchange with food, an easy vehicle for cross-cultural discussions.  The week after English theater, I took my REDES group to a Troca de Experiência. You are probably wondering what the heck this last sentence means. Ok, I know I’ve talked about REDES a few times now but let me give you a little more detail. REDES stands for Raparigas em Desenvolvimento Educação e Saúde (Girls in Development, Education and Health) and serves as a group to empower Mozambican girls. It was initially started as secondary project with Peace Corps Volunteer facilitators but it has grown to include fully functioning groups led my Mozambicans (which is always the goal with PC projects to retain the sustainability factor). One of the highlights of a REDES group is participating in Troca de Experiências, or “exchange of experiences” where groups from different areas meet up for a retreat. These usually involve 2 groups from the same province, but this Troca had a total of 4 groups from 2 different provinces so the exchanging of experiences was kind of epic! Ok, maybe not epic but we still had a blast. My group of 10 girls travelled to Sofala to meet with two groups from that province and one more from Inhambane. After a 3 hour chapa ride, we had to take a 5 minute canoe ride across a river to reach Sofala. Although I had warned them, I was still a little nervous about how the girls would react with all the mud and water but they were such great sports. Especially on the way back when we ended up in mud to our knees! Many got their fancy shoes dirty but they ended up laughing instead of bitching. I was really proud of their positive attitudes.  Aside from playing in the mud, the girls shared a song and dance they prepared, had a disco dance party, participated in discussions on HIV/AIDS and safe sex, and met new Mozambican girls with like-minded ideals. I was so happy to have facilitated this exchange since it’s a treat for the girls to travel as they don’t do it often, but more importantly because allowing these girls to form a network allows for a possibility of an improved future for Mozambican women. By the way, here is some more information on REDES if you’re interested: http://theredesproject.wordpress.com. Another perk of participating is that I get to spend time with some of my PCV friends as well. I have to give a big shout out to my boys Mac and Mike, who are awesome male REDES leaders and planned the 2 Trocas I participated in this year, both of which were wonderful! Chris was planning on joining the Troca as well but he was called away to participate in the JUNTOS handover meeting. Again, that sentence probably confused you. JUNTOS  stands for Jovens Unidos No Trabalho para Oportunidade e Sucesso (young people working for opportunity and success). But behind that very long name, JUNTOS groups are for young people who want to be involved in the arts or culture. Chris’ group, for example, was a musical group with instruments and singers. He loved the experience working with JUNTOS at our school, but felt like there could be some opportunities to improve and grow the program as a whole. Chris went to the handover meeting, where PCVs pass along information to the new group managing the project, with ideas in hand.  And, it turns out that he will be the National Coordinator for the JUNTOS project next year! It’s a great opportunity for him to execute some of the thoughts he has for a group he’s passionate about.  By the way, did I mention this handover meeting took place in Ilha de Moçambique, one of the most beautiful places in this country? I was lucky enough to go to Ilha, or the Island of Mozambique, for my site visit during training last year and I have talked it up to Chris ever since. I didn’t think he’d be able to go until we made our big trip up north next year as it is way too far from our site for a quick visit. But another plus to being involved in secondary projects is opportunities to travel. So although he missed out on all the REDES fun, enjoying Ilha wasn’t all that bad. :)

After the secondary project excitement was over, we headed back to Namaacha, our PC training stomping grounds, to help with the new crop of Peace Corps Volunteers. Over the 10 week training period, Peace Corps sends 2 to 3 current volunteers per week to help lead training sessions and acts as a resource to answer the many burning questions of a newly arrived PCT (Peace Corps Trainee).  I have wanted to be involved in PST (Pre Service Training) since I was a PCT myself.  While I was in Namaacha struggling to integrate with my host family, freaking out over Portuguese and wondering what my 2 years ahead would look like, I turned to the visiting volunteers who had lived through it and was always encouraged and relieved by their insight. After having a rough time in training with my homestay experience and a difficult beginning at my site, I wanted to come to training to show that you can be a happy, well-adjusted, successful volunteer in one year’s time despite initial challenges. Chris and I both applied to attend PST, but were expecting that only one of us would be able to go. To our pleasant surprise, not only were we both selected to attend, but we were selected to attend together! The Williams’ would be tag teaming week 3 of Moz 19’s training. Having us both there worked out well since I was able to spend most of my time helping the group of future English teachers and Chris was with the Math and Science groups. We led sessions on lesson planning, teaching with limited resources, dealing with grief and loss (just to name a few) and answered every question imaginable about life in Mozambique.  One of the days, we led a session together on classroom management and followed it up with a short slide show of pictures to give them some idea of what life as a PCV in Moz is actually like (as opposed to the bubble of training in Namaacha).  I have to say, we made quite a team! :)  One of the numerous benefits of this experience is that we get the chance to work together, something we never really did in the states. Sometimes we want to kill eachother, but usually we’re pretty good co-workers!  Aside from the technical training, we also sat in on a few language classes which the trainees attend a few hours each day. Watching the classes gave me perspective to see how far I have come with my Portuguese. I could see when some of the trainees were frustrated with the teacher, with themselves, or the language and I clearly remember that being me only 1 year ago. One of the most eye-opening revelations came during the cooking exchange day. Each year, the language classes and their host mom participate in a cooking event where the Mom’s teach a Mozambican dish while the trainees teach an American dish. It is supposed to be a fun cross-cultural exchange and an alternative to the standard language class. My cooking day was nothing short of a disaster with my host mom disappointed in everything I did from how I cut the tomatoes to choosing the wrong oil for the salad (see by blog titled “Because you are Lazy” for more info) and I could not speak enough Portuguese to defend myself. This time around however, me and the Moms were instant BFFs as I dazzled them with my Xitswa skills (the local language spoken in my area) and easily communicated in Portuguese that I already knew how to grate a coconut and I was just here for the week to help the trainees. In some ways, it made me sad to see what my experience could have been as all of these host Moms were kind and patient and actually interested in the learning the American recipe, all things I did not experience when doing this event last year. But, I was happy to see that these trainees had such good host Moms and I remember that the challenges I faced during training certainly benefitted me later on. Each day in Namaacha was jam packed with training sessions and meetings to plan those training sessions and it reminded me of why training was so exhausting. At least when we were finished, we were able to go back to our own place where we could cook our own food. Trainees are in language or tech classes all day, then need to spend time with their homestay family which means time to unwind is pretty much non-existent. But I’ll tell you what, these Moz 19ers are taking training like champs. These 68 volunteers are intelligent, talented, mature and calm. They are an eclectic group ranging in age from very early 20s to 60s including a few retirees and also PCVs who were transferred from Cape Verde whose program closed this year. Chris and I were both really impressed with this group and are excited that we get to spend another year with them here! (but let me just say for the record, Moz 17 will always be my favorite group!)  It was also great to meet the newbies since I recently took on the role as the National Coordinator for PSN (I know, I know, more of those frickin’ acronyms!). PSN stands for Peer Support Network and is a group of volunteers who support other volunteers and trainees in Mozambique with any emotional or technical support they may need. I am super excited about this position because supporting PCVs is something near and dear to my heart as I went through some challenging times here and I know what it’s like to need someone to talk to through all the craziness.  And even before PC, I’ve always liked to be a support for my friends and family with advice. Being the National Coordinator also gives me a chance to use some of my “cubicle” skills again. While I was happy to leave the corporate world to do Peace Corps, there are still some corporate-y things I liked doing which speak to my type-A personality. Now I have an outlet for my project management and organization impulses. And hopefully, it’s all to the benefit of providing a better support system for my fellow volunteers.

And finally, we’ve made it to the present. We’re currently in our very last week of school for the year which means teaching classes is over and calculating final grades has begun. After this week, our 10^th and 12^th graders will take government issued national exams but for the most part, the bulk of our work is done and we’ve survived our first school year. As I mentioned in my last blog, September 28^th marked one year since we landed in Mozambique.  It is hard to believe how much we’ve learned and how much we’ve grown in a year and I was lucky enough to spend time with Moz 19 to really see what a difference a year can make. I have accomplished so many things I wasn’t convinced I could do. Facilitate secondary projects. Check. Coordinate logistics in a different language. Check. Not be afraid of speaking Portuguese and even speak a little of the local language. Check.  Form strong relationships with my English students, be a National Coordinator for a group, and the advice-giving PCV at training. Check, check and check. I feel like I have finally grown into the Peace Corps volunteer that I wanted to be and that sometimes seemed impossible when I was a wide-eyed, at times overwhelmed trainee in Namaacha. It may have taken me a little longer than most to get here, but that struggle makes me appreciate my comfortable PCV self even more.